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Below is the script:
Reformation: Thinking New Thoughts
Memory Text: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek
those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of
God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians
3:1, 2, NKJV).
Let us define reformation:
“… a reformation must take place under the ministration of
the Holy Spirit. … Reformation signifies
a reorganization, a change in ideas and theories, habits and practices.
Reformation will not bring forth the good fruit of righteousness unless it is
connected with the revival of the Spirit. …”—Ellen G. White, The Advent Review
and Sabbath Herald, Feb. 25, 1902.
As we can see, it is a work that the Holy Spirit does. And, it is a work that happens in the
mind. Reformation occurs as the Holy
Spirit brings our thoughts into harmony with Christ’s thoughts. Christ becomes
our meditation. When that happens, our
actions will follow. Ellen White says,
“It is a law both of the intellectual and the spiritual
nature that by beholding we become changed. The mind gradually adapts itself to
the subjects upon which it is allowed to dwell. It becomes assimilated to that
which it is accustomed to love and reverence. Man will never rise higher than
his standard of purity or goodness or truth. If self is his loftiest ideal, he
will never attain to anything more exalted. Rather, he will constantly sink
lower and lower. The grace of God alone has power to exalt man. Left to
himself, his course must inevitably be downward.”—Ellen G. White, The Great
Controversy, p. 555.
Reformation is all about
looking to Jesus. It is about Jesus filling our minds. It is about Jesus
shaping our thoughts. It is about Jesus guiding our actions. When we behold
Jesus, He will lead us to higher standards than a mere rigidity to rules. We
cannot really look to Jesus and remain the same. When we think His thoughts, we
have only one desire, and that is to do His will.
Ellen white says,
All true obedience
comes from the heart. It was heart work with Christ. And if we consent,
He will so identify
Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into
conformity to His
will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses.
The will, refined and
sanctified, will find its highest delight in doing His service. When we
know God as it is our
privilege to know Him, our life will be a life of continual obedience.
Through an
appreciation of the character of Christ, through communion with God, sin will
become hateful to us.
(DA 668)
Our flesh, still
sinful, wants to Sin. This is our
battle. So, We need weapons specifically
for that kind of war. Paul says,
2Co 10:3 For though we walk in
the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
2Co 10:4 (For the weapons of our
warfare are not carnal, but mighty
through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
2Co 10:5 Casting down
imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge
of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
We cannot always choose
the thoughts that race through our minds. We can choose whether we will dwell
upon them and allow them to dominate our thinking. To bring each thought into
obedience to Christ is to surrender our minds to Jesus. Carnal thoughts are not
banished by merely wishing them away. They are driven out as the mind is filled
with something else. The mind focused on God’s Word is the mind “safeguarded”
and “kept” by God’s grace from the wiles of the evil one.
Scripture teaches that human beings are
an integrated unit of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions.
Whatever affects one part of the human frame affects all parts. The disciples
taught that physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health were
interconnected and could not be separated.
All sympathize with each other. This
is why Ellen White warns us,
To every soul Satan comes with temptation
in many alluring forms on the point of indulgence of appetite. The body is a most important medium through
which the mind and the soul are developed for the upbuilding of character.
Hence it is that the adversary of souls directs his temptations to the
enfeebling and degrading of the physical powers. His success here often means
the surrender of the whole being to evil (A Call to Stand Apart, 56).
This is why The Holy Spirit does not
limit Himself to one aspect of our lives when He convicts us of our need for
growth. Reformation is not one-dimensional. The Spirit longs to bring our lives
into total conformity to the will of Christ in every area. If there are
physical lifestyle practices not in harmony with His will, God invites us to
surrender them for His glory. Satan wants to control our minds through our
bodies; Jesus longs to control our bodies through our minds. Our bodies are a temple,
not a funhouse. By following – hearing and hearkening – the promptings of the
Holy Spirit, we can live more joy-filled, productive, abundant, healthy lives.
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